Microsoft Windows 95
Network Redirector (Vredir.vxd)
Problems and Patch

There have been a few stores that encountered consistent, localized network errors. Specifically, when a computer is placed in one particular place in the store, it gets consistent network timeouts and can even send "garbage" into the network disrupting other computers. When computers are swapped around, the problem stays with the location, not any specific computer. The most visible problem spot appears within BSMGR. Bookstore Manager Software will get network related errors, including:

The stores experiencing these problems have seen the problem go away after upgrading the operating system on the "problem" computer(s) to either Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0 Workstation.

Microsoft has several (38 as of January 15, 1999) issues related to the network redirector (Vredir.vxd) in Windows 95 posted on their support web site (http://support.microsoft.com/support), and has a patch to Windows 95 (that does not require purchasing an upgrade to Windows 98) that reportedly fixes the problem. Below is an excerpt from one of the articles including a download link for the patch.

BSMGR Customers Only: If you cannot access Microsoft's web site, you can download the patch from our BBS. This patch must be run on all Windows 95 computers in your network.


To install this update, follow these steps:
  1. Download the Vrdrupd.exe file from the Microsoft Software Library to an empty folder.
  2. In My Computer or Windows Explorer, double-click the Vrdrupd.exe file you downloaded in step 1.
  3. Follow the instructions on the screen.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

 ~ Vrdrupd.exe (size: 215728 bytes) 

For more information about downloading files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

The following files are installed by Vrdrupd.exe:

   File name     Version    Date/Time        Size     Destination folder
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   Vredir.vxd    4.00.1116  9/11/97 11:16a   156,773  Windows\System
   Vnetsup.vxd   4.00.1112  5/30/97 11:12a    17,595  Windows\System

Two Microsoft Knowledge Base Articles addressing the Vredir.vxd issue:
Q148367 | Q142803